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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109911">germinate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/picklebridge/pseuds/picklebridge'>picklebridge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Commander Cody Week 2021 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A Dash of Pining, Gardens &amp; Gardening, Grief/Mourning, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), M/M, Pre-Relationship, Room of a Thousand Fountains (Star Wars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:34:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>886</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109911</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/picklebridge/pseuds/picklebridge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was nice to take the time, to feel something that wasn’t the leather of his gloves or cold metal. The thick mulchy smell was one he usually associated with the backspray from heavy shelling, but he found he didn’t mind it here, fresh and unmarred by the smell of smoke.</p><p>-</p><p>While on shore leave, Obi-Wan introduces Cody to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and a new hobby.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CC-2224 | Cody &amp; Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Commander Cody Week 2021 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213964</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>germinate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Here Cody, like this.”</p><p></p><div class="">
  <p></p>
  <div class="">
    <p>The soil was warm, soft and damp under his hands, staining him up to the wrists. He caught himself wrinkling his nose at the sensation of it between his fingers, the way it cloyed and tickled. It was nice to take the time, to feel something that wasn’t the leather of his gloves or cold metal. The thick mulchy smell was one he usually associated with the backspray from heavy shelling, but he found he didn’t mind it here, fresh and unmarred by the smell of smoke. It lingered in his nostrils, wet and deep and clean, a bit like the smell of the sidewalk after rain.  </p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>He turned to look at Kenobi beside him, who had shed his outer tunic and had his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. The freckles on the bridge of his nose stood out as the light hit it, and Cody marveled that they seemed to go further, chasing down his pale forearms in the places they weren’t criss crossed with scars. He didn’t mean to stare, but it was so unlike anything else he knew. Exposed to the light like that, Kenobi’s hair illuminated like fire. He swallowed, thick, and dropped his gaze instead, to follow the line of Kenobi’s arms down to his quick hands, where they were teasing apart the plants with gentle fingers and it was safer to let his eyes linger.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="">
    <p>“Sir?” he rasped, settling back on his heels.</p>
  </div>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You have to make some space, a little circle like this, so the bulbs have room to grow.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cody eyed the little wrinkled white lumps in the bowl beside them and couldn’t help the doubt flashing through his mind, that such a small gnarled thing could ever be one of the many plants blooming around them. Kenobi laughed, the sound fond and warm.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It will work, I promise,” he said. Cody felt heat rise in his face, but when he glanced up, Kenobi was grinning, hair flopping down into his eyes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I - Sorry, Sir.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Not at all. It does seem quite unbelievable sometimes, doesn’t it? That such a small thing could hold so much.” Kenobi put aside the little trowel he had in one hand and sat back to fold his fingers in his lap, heedless of the dirt it smeared over his pale tunics. “I have missed this place. My master and I often struggled to get along, but tending his plants was the one way we could always come together. It would force us to apologise, because Qui-Gon was convinced negative emotions would stunt their growth.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cody watched him tilt his head back, breathing in for a long still moment with his face in the sun. Then Kenobi smiled thinly and reached for the bowl, beckoning him to lean over the small loose hole he’d excavated in the earth. Cody watched carefully, noting the distance from the edges, the way the little hairs on the bulb went earth-side down, the careful way Kenobi gathered the loose dirt and pressed it back round. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Did you believe him?” he found himself asking a moment later, fishing around for a trowel of his own. He copied Kenobi’s movements, frowning and sticking his tongue between his teeth as he focused on getting that perfect shape and depth. There was a certain type of satisfaction in burying that small thing and looking up at the tall, gracile leaves around them, to think that one day it would join them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I confess, I laughed at him to start with,” Kenobi said, a wistful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I never had much knack for the living Force. But...the Force moves in all things, and he used to say that the plant always takes on some of the planter. After he died, well, you see the appeal.” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Cody looked down at the tool in his dirt-stained hands, then up at the vaulted ceilings, the glittering pools, the vines running up the length of the painted walls. There was something deeply appealing about the thought that no matter where he went there might be a little piece of himself in this place, bathing in the sun. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I think I do, Sir.” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He turned back to his task with renewed vigor, smiling gently as he brushed his hands through the surrounding vines. After their last engagement it had felt like the grit of the battle would never lift away. He knew there was war built down in his bones, an immutable thing...but it was an exciting prospect, that in this small way he could subvert his nature. That such a little life could be brought into being by his hands, even after they had wrought so much death.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Do you...do you think it still works if someone is already dead, but you plant something and think of them?” He found himself asking eventually, his voice rough. He put his hand over another bulb and drew his nail over its rough, papery skin, picturing too much bloody armour in red sand. It would be nice, in some way, if he could spare them. If he could come back here and find them waiting.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh, Cody.” Kenobi’s hand tentatively closed over his own, lifting the bulb with him. “Yes. Yes, I think it would work.”</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>come find me over at <a href="https://alderaani.tumblr.com/">alderaani</a> on tumblr!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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